Talk about wandering into places you shouldn't be:

I was "exploring" during an airline layover in Fort Worth. I was walking along a road overlooking the Trinity river, and cut through the woods to get to it.

The bluff got steeper and steeper, and then I ran into some serious brambles. I was slowly picking my way through those and broke out onto a path. Picture almost jungle - thick brush and trees covered with vines, even a bamboo grove.

I found a pair of nice, almost new boots carefully placed by a tree. A few steps further, and there was a bunch of laundry drying in a tree, lawn chairs, improvised shelters, tents and an incredible amount of litter. Cans, bottles, mattresses, paper, clothes. No people.

I decided to just walk through briskly, and kept coming on more and more shelters. I saw two teenage black boys watching me from about thirty yards away. I waved and one of them waved back. Then I walked past a very large black woman who looked at me like I'd just stepped out of a flying saucer. I could hear several people talking out-of-sight in the brush. Then I passed a bunch of Hispanic guys sitting around a fire. They didn't see me. Then a white guy taking a leak, wobbling like he was drunk. He didn't see me, either.

Finally came to a chain-link fence with a hole cut in it. Ducked through it and came out by the river. Looked back and couldn't see any sign of the camps but some litter.

It was like something out of a movie. I was amazed at the size of the "community", and how well hidden it was - literally within sight of downtown Fort Worth.

No drawing down?
No sex with dirty wimminz?
No drugs and boozing it up with the hobos?
No knock down drag out fighting with a mob of 5 bums?

This story is lacking something.....

Maybe it was just one of those ARFCOM survivalist campouts I read about on the Survival forum.

Just some Texas Arfcommers on a survival forum campout


eta: DOH, late by a minute

Quoted: Talk about wandering into places you shouldn't be: I was "exploring" during an airline layover in Fort Worth. I was walking along a road overlooking the Trinity river, and cut through the woods to get to it. The bluff got steeper and steeper, and then I ran into some serious brambles. I was slowly picking my way through those and broke out onto a path. Picture almost jungle - thick brush and trees covered with vines, even a bamboo grove. I found a pair of nice, almost new boots carefully placed by a tree. A few steps further, and there was a bunch of laundry drying in a tree, lawn chairs, improvised shelters, tents and an incredible amount of litter. Cans, bottles, mattresses, paper, clothes. No people. I decided to just walk through briskly, and kept coming on more and more shelters. I saw two teenage black boys watching me from about thirty yards away. I waved and one of them waved back. Then I walked past a very large black woman who looked at me like I'd just stepped out of a flying saucer. I could hear several people talking out-of-sight in the brush. Then I passed a bunch of Hispanic guys sitting around a fire. They didn't see me. Then a white guy taking a leak, wobbling like he was drunk. He didn't see me, either. Finally came to a chain-link fence with a hole cut in it. Ducked through it and came out by the river. Looked back and couldn't see any sign of the camps but some litter. It was like something out of a movie. I was amazed at the size of the "community", and how well hidden it was - literally within sight of downtown Fort Worth.

Rodent,  

Keep your arse out of my neighborhood honkie.

tag

Mi Casa es Su Casa.

I've done that.

Picked up a girl after school let out (i was year out of school, she was a senior)

I had a joint to smoke, took her down to the woods, thought we'd get high and then....

We got to the woods, figured quick what I thought was woods was  a hobo camp out, saw a 12 pack of beer, some people moving in the background, we moved on.

Quoted: Talk about wandering into places you shouldn't be: I was "exploring" during an airline layover in Fort Worth. I was walking along a road overlooking the Trinity river, and cut through the woods to get to it.

You wernt drinking in the Hotel Bar?

Your not really an Airline Pilot are you?

echo6

Last week you were hobnobbing at charity functions with all the gozillinaires.

www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=1&f=5&t=414823

This week your swilling Mad dog 20/20 with the rifraff?

Those airlines must really be in trouble

Jack Kerouac would have stopped and asked for a drink...........

Quoted: You wernt drinking in the Hotel Bar? Your not really an Airline Pilot are you?

Am so, and I could show you the hotel pen I stole to prove it...

I know of one east of downtown Ft.Worth, was that it?

The areas south and east of downtown are NOT good!

Most of the homeless are harmless, but my dad (ex-sheriff dep) always warned me that some of them (hobos) would slit your throat for 5 bucks.

You could have had more adventure than you were looking for.....

However, exploring a new  town can be really interesting. I'm always looking for old railroad buildings and structures when I'm somewhere new.

Although I'm a flyer as well, I find myself nostalgic for the days when people traveled mostly by train. So much more civilized than what airline travel has become.

What were you looking for?

Explore safely,

Flyer

Didn't you want to fly over in an F4 and drop some Napalm on em?  

are you talking about teh spot near Riverside Dr. and I-30?  I've ridden my MTB through there a few times, kinda creepy....

You sure do got a pretty mouth boy.......

Yep we've got some here too I went driving down some dirt roads down by the river and saw a camp ...looked just like the camp in "Distant Thunder" movie w/ the karate Kid in it .

There's another one , agian by the river where my lab swims , they are freindly enough . No clue how they make it thru -7 degree nights ........

And I found a "settlement" in Belize by mistake once .

Again freindly enough BUT criky it was a Rasta "camp" talk about being "OWNED" . Pitch black there was a camp fire going but didnt see anyone when one guy said said "hy mn" fuckin near jumped out of my skin . Then laughter all around . Shit there musta been 4-5 all nattymen sitting within 15 feet of me .

OF course I haven't wandered thru one looking like an Airline Captian w/ a fat wallet

Quoted: Didn't you want to fly over in an F4 and drop some Napalm on em?

lol, I was thinking the same thing.

and here I thought every hobo has moved to Santa Monica for the free food handouts on the beach.

Hobo Joe:  Hey Bo!  Where you been?

Hobo Bo:  Hi Joe!  Just gettng back from seeing my girlfriend.

Hobo Joe:  You got a girlfriend?  Wow!  How'd you meet her?

Hobo Bo:  Oh, I was walkin' down by the railroad tracks the other day and I bumped into this awesome girl with one fine ass body.  I dropped my smoothest lines on her, and before you know it she was letting me feel her up.  Tweren't long after that she let me take her pants off and we ended up making love all through the night.  It was some of the most amazing sex I've ever had.

Hobo Joe:  Holy shit!  Did ya get a blow job from her too?

Hobo Bo:  Blow job?  Oh no, no...  Nope, she doesn't have a head.

Man, that reminded me of the time I accidentally walked down the wrong beach on St. Croix in the US Virgin Islands. I used to stroll along beaches all the time and I never felt anything like being nervous. I went down a beach that was a little more difficult to get to, but right next to the beach in front of our condo. I wondered to myself why I never saw anyone walking down that beach. Well, things started changing as I walked. It went right behind the projects. White people are NOT allowed in the projects. There is shooting every night there, we could hear it from our condo. The poor on the island are kind of kept in the corner there so they don't affect tourism. Anyway, I was walking along and feeling like I had a scope on my back. I heard a kid yell and point from a balcony. It was most assuredly at me. I thought I would just pass through quickly and talk the little bit of woods up into Christiansted, the nearest point of civilization. That's when I came up to the Rasta camp. The Rastas come down from the rainforests in the mountains on their horses and camp on the beach behind the projects. (They just let their horses graze in the yard). I think I saw them before they saw me(or I would be dead), and I started walking quickly back the way I came, down the beach behind the projects. When I got about 200 yards from my beach, what looked like a technical from BlackHawk Down pulls right past me, real slow. There are about five islanders from the projects in the truck, and they are all concealing weapons. They all stare at me, and I just keep walking. For what ever reason, they let me go by. Maybe they thought I was a cop. I don't know. They kill cops all the time. Hard to say. When I got back to the beach I told my Rasta buddy that works at the condo where I went and his eyes bugged out. He said to never ever do that again. White people don't go there!

I've come across several small camps in the past few years. My job often takes me to wooded parcels of land in or near urban areas. I never stick around and have never actually seen someone but do feel very creeped out knowing that I "don't belong." There is always tons of litter everywhere. I wonder why these people don't keep the area cleaner or if they just move along to somewhere else when it gets too bad.

Quoted: Hobo Joe:  Hey Bo!  Where you been? Hobo Bo:  Hi Joe!  Just gettng back from seeing my girlfriend. Hobo Joe:  You got a girlfriend?  Wow!  How'd you meet her? Hobo Bo:  Oh, I was walkin' down by the railroad tracks the other day and I bumped into this awesome girl with one fine ass body.  I dropped my smoothest lines on her, and before you know it she was letting me feel her up.  Tweren't long after that she let me take her pants off and we ended up making love all through the night.  It was some of the most amazing sex I've ever had. Hobo Joe:  Holy shit!  Did ya get a blow job from her too? Hobo Bo:  Blow job?  Oh no, no...  Nope, she doesn't have a head.

Good one.  First laugh of the AM.

Rodent,

Were you exploring the Trinity River bank just north of downtown?

Lots of history there. The first settlement/out-post/fort etc. was along the river banks in that area.

Everyone was getting malaria so they moved the camp up to the top of the bluff to get out of the bad air. Of course it was the mosquitos causing the trouble but they did'nt know that at the time but they got away from them too.

The Ft. Worth "fort' was located near the present-day court house I believe.

If I remember correctly, Ft.Worth is named for a early 1800's army general who never even
visited the area.

Have fun,

Flyer

Quoted: Rodent, Were you exploring the Trinity River bank just north of downtown? Lots of history there. The first settlement/out-post/fort etc. was along the river banks in that area. Everyone was getting malaria so they moved the camp up to the top of the bluff to get out of the bad air. Of course it was the mosquitos causing the trouble but they did'nt know that at the time but they got away from them too. The Ft. Worth "fort' was located near the present-day court house I believe. If I remember correctly, Ft.Worth is named for a early 1800's army general who never even visited the area. Have fun, Flyer

That's the place. Downstream from behind the courthouse a few hundred yards, before you get to that low dam.

Thank you for reminding me why I live in NH.

Negative 30 temps in the winter kills off the riffraff.

Quoted: ...Most of the homeless are harmless, but my dad (ex-sheriff dep) always warned me that some of them (hobos) would slit your throat for 5 bucks. You could have had more adventure than you were looking for..... What were you looking for?

I think most of the homeless ("bums", back in the pre-PC days of my misspent youth) are either mentally ill or have addiction problems. And an alarming number of them have AIDS, hepatitus, lice, & etc.

I wasn't looking for anything specific, I was just adventurin'. I'm always attracted to little pockets of what I call "urban wilderness".

The south seems to have a lot of hoboes. Saw a lot of them the several times I drive through Missippi and on down to Florida.... Big backpacks with roll up tents.

I think they camp out around the freeways.

bumfight

Quoted: Hobo Joe:  Hey Bo!  Where you been? Hobo Bo:  Hi Joe!  Just gettng back from seeing my girlfriend. Hobo Joe:  You got a girlfriend?  Wow!  How'd you meet her? Hobo Bo:  Oh, I was walkin' down by the railroad tracks the other day and I bumped into this awesome girl with one fine ass body.  I dropped my smoothest lines on her, and before you know it she was letting me feel her up.  Tweren't long after that she let me take her pants off and we ended up making love all through the night.  It was some of the most amazing sex I've ever had. Hobo Joe:  Holy shit!  Did ya get a blow job from her too? Hobo Bo:  Blow job?  Oh no, no...  Nope, she doesn't have a head.

Fucker... you made me cough up mountain dew from laughing.

Quoted: Thank you for reminding me why I live in NH. Negative 30 temps in the winter kills off the riffraff.

Think so? I ran into the same thing a few years ago (albeit on a much smaller scale) a few years ago just outside of Nashua ... Me and a buddy were biking on some trails that we frequented and noticed a trail off to one side that we'd never seen before, so we decided to follow it ... Went deep into a wooded area and came upon a clearing, there were a couple of bums sitting around on lawn chairs drinking beers and listening to a radio ... I didn't see the guys at first and was just trying to figure out where all the trash came from, but my buddy saw the mriht away ... he had already done a 180º and was going full tilt by me in the opposite direction by the time I noticed them.

I still haven't figured out a good way to carry while biking.

Quoted: Rodent, Were you exploring the Trinity River bank just north of downtown? Lots of history there. The first settlement/out-post/fort etc. was along the river banks in that area. Everyone was getting malaria so they moved the camp up to the top of the bluff to get out of the bad air. Of course it was the mosquitos causing the trouble but they did'nt know that at the time but they got away from them too. The Ft. Worth "fort' was located near the present-day court house I believe. If I remember correctly, Ft.Worth is named for a early 1800's army general who never even visited the area. Have fun, Flyer

theres still a few rock structures down on that hill side, pretty cool stuff.  I know where theres some more over in Arlington on the side of another hill.

Quoted: I still haven't figured out a good way to carry while biking.

It's one of the few times when "fanny pack" doesn't scream "obvious".  

Were  you armed, or for lack of better words, stupid?


(There is no reason to be unarmed in Texas)

So what's the coolest thing you discovered while exploring "urban wilderness" around the country?

We used to have an old commuter train station (early 1900's) on the airport where I'm based but the city tore it down. It was only a shell of a building anyway but I used to enjoy looking at it. It was quite overgrown with brush and trees. The biggest owl I've ever seen chased me out of there one day when we were exploring.

I like the areas where time and progress seems to have passed right by an area. Like where a town once thrived due to the railroad but then the railroad shut down and it seems like nothing new was every built there again. Lot's of places like that.

Some old industrial sites are now so over grown that they look like wilderness. In fact the airport manager discovered a very old water water treatment facility in a wooded area near the airport. The water treatment tanks were open but obscured by brush. They could have fallen in them and they were deep.

So be careful,

Flyer

Quoted: Quoted: ...Most of the homeless are harmless, but my dad (ex-sheriff dep) always warned me that some of them (hobos) would slit your throat for 5 bucks. You could have had more adventure than you were looking for..... What were you looking for? I think most of the homeless ("bums", back in the pre-PC days of my misspent youth) are either mentally ill or have addiction problems. And an alarming number of them have AIDS, hepatitus, lice, & etc.

But are they "smarmy"?